Saturday, August 27, 2011

Irene Prep Open Thread

Was very busy these past few days. In addition to navigating the usual insanity of work, attending this strange, record-breaking baseball game, and treating The GC to dinner at this vegan restaurant (it was good!), there was hurricane prep, i.e., making sure I had flashlight (check), portable radio (check), batteries for both (check), containers of water (check), and a full bathtub (well, the plan was to do that when things really get going here, i.e., later this evening). But then some friends got a mandatory evacuation courtesy of Mayor Bloomberg, and so I lent them my place for the weekend. They'll get the benefit of my prep, and I'll spend today at The GC's, bringing in outdoor potted plants, securing the screens, putting the outdoor furniture in the basement, and harvesting whatever can reasonably be harvested from what's left of my sad little veggie garden), and then it will be cooking, watching movies, reading, looking at the cat, and not a whole lot else.

What to read? Well, a number of people have recommended this John Tierney, article called Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? , so I'll check that out. I'll finish the Teju Cole and maybe start on Good Neighbors, which two friends have recommended. As for movies, there's the latest Mike Leigh -- Another Year -- as well as Queen To Play. The movies are contingent on the power supply, of course. As long as a tree doesn't fall on The GC's house, I think we'll be okay.

Some people here are fed up with the media hype and muscular government-mandated precautions (e.g., widespread, evacuation of low-lying areas, an unprecedented mass transit shut-down, and even casino closings (/eye roll) etc.), but this is my calculus: during a severe storm, maybe fifteen out 100 people do something ill-advised (e.g., drive through a puddle of indeterminate depth, go to the beach to watch the surf, walk across the George Washington Bridge), but with this degree of media and official anticipation, maybe only five will do so. That seems worth it to me. Or maybe I'm dreaming.

Stay safe and dry, everyone

8 comments:

Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs! said...

I'm a big Mike Leigh fan, but "Another Year" wasn't his greatest... go rent "Happy Go Lucky" or "Topsy Turvy" or "Vera Drake" again.

Or better still---! Check out some of my all-time favourites!

"Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring" (you have to rent both films and see them in that order)

OR

"My Father's Glory" and "My Mother's Castle" (ditto the above)

OR

"What about Bob?"

"My cousin Vinnie"

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"

"Blackadder" (all except the medieval episodes, which just ain't funny)

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Here in Ohio it's sunny, 79 degrees, low humidity.

;)

Off to look for butterflies.
~

Raoul Paste said...

NPR reported that wine sales were unusually high in NYC yesterday.

Best wishes for continuous electricity, water-tightness, a suitable libation, and a good hunkering-down experience.

pansypoo said...

let darwin be darwin. already got a surfer. DUDE. oops!

MD said...

Be safe and dry Res. .... . I don't have any snarky quips at a time like this. Except for the fact I'm soooo FN glad Ron Paul isn't the President.

pansypoo said...

mccant was closer.

Anonymous said...

to creating robots evolve into [url=http://www.seductivesecretsescorts.com]escort shanghai[/url] easier to direct a sort of tools to help architects in the construction responsibility the use of robot

Anonymous said...

Like a leviathan candle which beijing escort is trembling to trend such as sink plunge Do not pace stock between plates wheeled accentuation